Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh… I. THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DOES EXERT AN INFLUENCE ON MAN FOR THE PURPOSE OF SECURING HIS BEST INTEREST. Notice — 1. That this spiritual influence is universal. No doubt respecting its possibility. He who made man can influence him. 2. That this spiritual influence is essential to the production of good. Human nature is depraved, and therefore incapable of itself of producing anything good. As every drop of rain which falls from the clouds, and every spring that issues from the rocky mountains, comes from the mighty oceans; as the light which makes every planet and satellite gleam in the dark void of space comes from the sun, so does all good in man proceed from the Spirit of God. 3. That this spiritual influence is, in every case, limited by the conditions of man's free agency. Nothing compulsory in its nature. If religion be virtue, man in becoming religious must act from choice and not from necessity. 4. That this spiritual influence is effective in proportion to the adaptation of the means by which it acts upon men's minds. Nature. Providence. Chiefly the gospel. II. THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD MAY CEASE TO INFLUENCE MEN FOR GOOD. This proved by facts. Saul (1 Samuel 28:15); Belshazzar (Daniel 5); Jews in time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:1). III. THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD CEASES TO INFLUENCE MAN FOR GOOD BECAUSE OF MAN'S CONTINUED REBELLION. "For that he also is flesh." The word "flesh" is often used in Scripture to denote the sinfulness of man. This ceasing to strive may not be the result of a positive act of withdrawal of heavenly influences, so much as that of the law of nature which determines that the momentum of any moving body is diminished by constant resistance. In the moral universe, as well as in the physical, this law operates. IV. THAT THE BENEVOLENCE OF GOD IS MANIFESTED IN THE MANNER IN WHICH SPIRITUAL INFLUENCES ARE WITHDRAWN FROM MAN. "Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." 1. The withdrawal never happens till after a long period of existence. 2. It never happens suddenly, but gradually. 3. It never happens without sufficient warning. (Evan Lewis.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. |
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